iPhone 5 Release Date: What to Expect From Carriers

It’s widely believed that Apple will both announce and launch a new iPhone, presumably called the iPhone 5, sometime during the fall of 2012. And while the device is almost certain to land on three major U.S. carriers, there are also some smaller carriers that should see the device as well.

Last year, the iPhone 4S launched on four American carriers. The big three were AT&T, Sprint and Verizon. The device also launched soon after on regional carrier C-Spire.

Over the course of the months since its October release, the iPhone 4S and the iPhone 4 have both shown up on several smaller carriers including Virgin Mobile, Nex-Tech Wireless, Golden State Cellular and Bluegrass Cellular. The iPhone 4S is also available on Cricket and it will be headed to Boost Mobile, along with the iPhone 4 later this year.

Apple, as we have said many times, is a creature of habit. It’s also a company that likes to profit. Thus, we expect Apple to follow a similar release pattern with the iPhone 5, getting it onto as many carriers as it possibly can in the United States before it announces the next iPhone.

Here is what to expect from the iPhone 5 release date in terms of specific carriers.

A render showing what the iPhone 5 could look like.

Big Three (AT&T, Sprint and Verizon)

While none of them have confirmed any sort of release date for the iPhone 5, AT&T, Sprint and Verizon should all be expected to get the device at launch.

In South Mississippi: the cities of Brookhaven, Columbia, Natchez, Petal, Hattiesburg, McComb and Lucedale;

In North Mississippi: the cities of Oxford, Tupelo, Corinth, New Albany, Pontotoc, Booneville, Starkville, Columbus and West Point;

In the Mississippi Delta, the cities of Yazoo City, Cleveland, Greenville, Greenwood and Clarksdale

In East Mississippi: the city of Meridian and parts of Lauderdale County

The locations aren’t as important as the timing though. Apple is presumed to be launching an iPhone 5, in October, with 4G LTE on board. The timing of C-Spire’s roll out fits in quite nicely with a possible iPhone 5 launch later in the year.

Last year, the carrier got the iPhone 4S in November and it wouldn’t be surprising to see C-Spire get the iPhone 5 in the same month in 2012.

T-Mobile

T-Mobile is the fourth largest carrier in the United States but it still doesn’t have the iPhone and it likely won’t see that change with the iPhone 5 launch this fall.

The biggest reasons is that it won’t have a 4G LTE network in place to support the iPhone 5 should it have 4G LTE capabilities.

In any event, don’t expect a T-Mobile iPhone 5 until 2013 at the earliest and maybe even not at all.

Cricket, MetroPCS, Virgin Mobile

Apple did something new with the iPhone 4S in that it launched the device on pre-paid carriers in the United States. Cricket and Virgin Mobile offer up the iPhone 4S and Virgin offers up the iPhone 4 as well.

These pre-paid carriers allow consumers to buy the iPhone without the need for a signature on a two year contract.

Our exclusive iPhone 5 engineering samples show a taller design.

The iPhone 5 could hit some of these pre-paid carriers next year as Cricket currently has a 4G LTE network in place. Virgin Mobile does not have a full-fledged 4G LTE network which means that they might not see an official 4G LTE launch next year.

If Cricket does get the iPhone 5, we don’t expect it to arrive until sometime in 2013.

Additional markets that will be arriving later this year include select cities in Illinois, Iowa, Maryland, Missouri, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Tennessee, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia and Wisconsin.

And while the carrier hasn’t offered up every specific city, it has listed off a few which include Rockford and Peoria, Ill.; Columbia and Jefferson City, Mo.; Manchester, N.H.; Wilmington and Jacksonville, N.C.; Tulsa, Okla.; Medford, Ore.; Knoxville, Tenn.; Roanoke and Lynchburg, Va.; Yakima and the Tri-Cities, Wash.; Morgantown, W. Va. and LaCrosse and Beloit, Wis.

U.S. Cellular turned down the iPhone 4S but it may opt to carry the iPhone 5, especially if it has 4G LTE.

The carrier launched the Galaxy S III soon after the major carriers and we could see the carrier, if it indeed offers the iPhone 5, launch the device sometime soon after the iPhone 5’s release date.

The device is supposedly going to be arriving with a taller, but thinner design and a new 4-inch screen size. The screen is rumored to be both lighter and thinner than previous displays and could make for great outdoor viewing.

It’s also rumored to have an upgraded front-facing FaceTime camera, a quad-core A6 processor, and a metal backing instead of a glass one.

3 Comments

Toni Buckley

08/13/2012 at 3:42 pm

Hello I went to a Cricket store on August 10, 2012 and the representative there told me not to buy the IPHONE 4S because the IPHONE 5 was coming in November 2012 and I should just wait for the new one!